Identities
by impossiblyrandom
Summary: Their identities are not a secret from everyone.
1. Ikuko Tsukino

Ikuko wasn't so foolish to assume she knew from the very first moment, but she had known for awhile. It was something any good mother should have picked up on rather quickly. Her daughter was a super hero. And not just any super hero. Usagi was the leader of the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Moon.

At first she had been worried for Usagi. Not only worried about her safety (she still worried about that), but also worried about what it was that Usagi was up to. Usagi had never been a great student, but she also wasn't a bad kid. Sure she was late to school, but once she was there she always stayed there. Until she didn't. Ms. Haruna called home one day to tell Ikuko that Usagi had skipped class. There was a new girl at the school who had a history of delinquency and she and Usagi and (strangely enough) the school genius had left during lunch and never returned.

That was really the beginning for Ikuko. The bruises that she had noticed recently took on a more sinister meaning. The nights she swore Usagi was too quiet had to mean that she wasn't really in her room after all. The fact that Naru came around less and less was more than just natural growing pains.

But Usagi had always been trustworthy (aside from volunteering her test grades). And Ikuko remembered how much she pulled away when her mother accused her of something she hadn't felt she was guilty of. So she watched. She listened. And she gathered evidence.

But nothing added up to Usagi being a delinquent. Her grades were actually improving, slowly but surely (well, she was hanging out with a genius who had a wonderful work ethic). She was late to school less often. She brought her friends around and they all seemed very polite and well behaved. She helped at her friend's shrine (Ikuko had spied on her, she was ashamed to admit).

And then there were the hushed conversations when Ikuko knew that only Usagi and her cat, Luna, were in the bedroom. Occasionally, the second voice was clear. It was definitely not Usagi's voice.

Ikuko pondered on all of this information for what felt like an eternity before The Event. The Event when it all finally came together. The Event when Usagi had saved her family while on vacation. Ikuko had not seen the her become Sailor Moon, but when she stepped forward to defend the Tsukino family from the youma, it was suddenly crystal clear. Usagi was the legendary Sailor Moon.

Ikuko had not seen Sailor Moon in person before. Perhaps her realization would have come sooner if she had, but at any rate, the realization came suddenly. And even though her daughter was fighting a supernatural being, Ikuko felt a certain peace wash over her. Usagi wasn't a delinquent. She hadn't fallen in with a bad crowd. She wasn't wasting her entire life on video games and comics. She had a gift and she was using it to the best of her abilities.

After all was said and done, when Usagi's friends suddenly showed up at the hot springs, Ikuko had gently swayed her husband to let their daughter drift off with them instead of spending the rest of the night with family. There was something on Usagi's mind. It had been on her mind the entire trip and longer. And it was almost certainly something to do with her secret life. And anyways, the girls had just saved the family. They deserved a small reward.

Ikuko decided then and there that she would do everything in her power to help the girls. She couldn't fight for them, but she could make their lives a little bit easier. When she heard Usagi leave in the night to defend the city from some new creature, Ikuko might check on her in the morning and declare she looked sick and tell her to stay home from school that day. She would pack Usagi a bigger lunch and have snacks waiting for her when she came home. She gave her a few extra dollars here and there to play video games or go out with her friends. And she always welcomed the other girls into her home. Especially Makoto and Minako.

Usagi had mentioned before that Makoto lived alone. So she was always invited over during the holidays. And it sounded like Minako's family wasn't very involved, so she too was invited. And Minako had a cat. A cat that talked, just like Luna.

It took longer for Ikuko to figure out the hushed conversations than anything else. Strangely, it was easier to admit her daughter had a secret identity to fight evil than to allow that a cat could talk. But finally, it was the only conclusion that Ikuko could make. So she watched Luna. She listened. And finally, she tricked her.

Ikuko and Usagi had similar voices. Very similar. So one day just before Usagi was due home, Ikuko ran up the stairs loudly, and just before she reached Usagi's room, started talking to Luna. And the cat answered. Just as Ikuko cleared the doorway, Luna spoke to her and then realized she had been found out. Ikuko just smiled, "I won't tell if you won't tell."

So yes, Ikuko knew her daughter's secret. She knew why she snuck out at night and sometimes fell asleep during class. She knew why she came home with nasty scrapes and bruises. And she knew that, even though strange things were happening in the city and her daughter had to deal with things most full grown adults couldn't even begin to cope with, Usagi was growing up better than Ikuko had ever imagined she could.


	2. Naru

It wasn't every girl who was lucky enough to be best friends with Sailor Moon. Sure, Sailor Moon didn't know that her best friend knew, but sometimes that's what best friends are for, keeping secrets.

Naru knew that she was the first person Sailor Moon had appeared to. She and Usagi had always been very big fans of Sailor V and Sailor Moon had never been heard of before that night in her mom's jewelry store. Of course, she did not know it was Usagi at that time, but it made sense when she looked back on it.

No, Naru had finally put the pieces together after Nephrite's death. At first there was only intense pain and sorrow. But Usagi had been surprisingly understanding, even though Naru hadn't told her the entire story. She said things that sounded like she knew who Nephrite was, even though Naru had never used his real name or told her how he wasn't really human. So gradually, the pain and sorrow turned to curiosity and wonder.

Sailor Moon looked like a more mature version of Usagi. She couldn't have painted a clear picture of how exactly Sailor Moon looked, which was probably part of the magic of her transformation, but each time she encountered Sailor Moon, she thought of her best friend. And Usagi definitely resembled Sailor Moon.

And events added up. Around the time that Usagi began hanging out with Ami, Sailor Mercury had appeared. And after the new girl, Makoto, arrived at school and Usagi befriended her, Sailor Jupiter appeared. And somehow Usagi was friends with two girls from different schools when she had never really been outside of their neighborhood. Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus.

Also, Naru had probably been saved by Sailor Moon more times than anyone else in the city. Something would happen while she was on the phone with Usagi and then suddenly Sailor Moon was there. In fact, Nephrite had noticed that Naru was almost a beacon for Sailor Moon and wanted to use her as bait. She didn't blame him. He had come to care for her before all that was said and done, so he was redeemed to her.

But having a super hero for a best friend isn't all it's cracked up to be. Especially since Naru herself was most definitely not a superhero. Usagi spent less time with Naru, preferring her other Sailor Scouts to her childhood best friend. Usagi was a true friend. She tried to spend time with Naru, but she just didn't have the time as she had before. Things were getting stranger and more dangerous. Attacks were happening more frequently and the Scouts needed to work together to protect the city.

At one point, Usagi and the other girls had lost their memories of their super hero identities. In fact, it seemed that everyone forgot the time that the five girls were always together. Everyone except Naru. It was strange when Usagi stopped hanging out with Ami and Makoto for a time. It was nice to have her best friend back. But all good things must come to an end and new attacks began and Usagi remembered. And then Ami and Makoto and the others remembered a little later.

Not every girl has a super hero for a best friend. But Naru does and she knows that keeping that secret is of the utmost importance, so she'll never tell a soul. Not even Usagi herself. All she can do is support her and be there for her and spend time with her when the world is not so dangerous and always, always be thankful for the many times her best friend has saved her life.


	3. Shingo

Sometimes people remain stubbornly ignorant because it feels preferable than to admit something embarrassing. Something like the hero you've fawned all over and collected all the action figures for is actually your stupid, klutzy sister. The annoying crybaby sister who fails basically all of her classes. No wonder it took Shingo so long to see the resemblance between that sister and the widely successful leader of the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Moon. How embarrassing.

But if he was honest with himself, it was more embarrassing that it took him so long to piece that together. After all, Usagi usually hung out with four other girls who became a part of her life around the same time that each of the other scouts made their appearance. Luna the (talking!) cat took up residence in their home at the same time that Sailor Moon had appeared. Usagi even managed to snag an older boyfriend that just had to be Tuxedo Mask. Shingo even had to acknowledge the fact that Usagi wasn't actually failing her classes anymore, no matter how grudgingly that acknowledgment came.

As embarrassing as the initial realization was, Shingo was actually very proud of his sister. Proud that it was his sister that saved the city (the world?) day in and day out, and in particular his skin more than once. While she often times came home bruised and battered (her awkward teenage clumsiness was a great excuse, and Shingo was sure that these days that's all it was), he had never been truly hurt in the few times he had been caught up in Evil's plans.

Shingo had initially wondered if his parent's knew about Usagi's extra-curricular activities. One night when he heard Usagi's window squeak, he ventured into her room and oiled up the hinges. As he was leaving her room, his mother was walking down the hall. She gave him a look that said she knew what he was up to. All she said was, "Your father's been very busy lately." Shingo took that to mean that he wasn't the last one in the house to figure things out.

Once he knew that his mother was in on secret, Shingo took to helping her keep things as normal as possible around the house. If Usagi slept in, Shingo would wake her up like. If she ran past the kitchen without her lunch, he would point it out to her. If she had a test coming up, he would remind her. But of course, Shingo did not want Usagi to know that he knew her secret, so he did all of these things just like any little brother would, which is as annoyingly as possible.

Yes, it had been a bit of a blow to the ego to find out that he had been hero worshiping his sister of all people, but at least now if the world ever found out, Shingo could say he'd known all along.


End file.
